Art

Hammer, Heat and Flow

From Hephaestus to Joe Gargery, and Celebrimbor to Jason Ogg, blacksmiths have captured the imagination forever. They appear in myth, fantasy and literature as archetypes of strength, cleverness, mystery and power. But what about the act of smithing itself?

Spike from Bearded Pig Forge at work, Birchington, 2026

In this series, I am exploring the arts that human beings busy themselves with, the reasons we partake in them and what we get from them. Already, a mere two episodes in, I have discovered a great deal about how music can speak to us emotionally, how theatre can help us to say the things we could never dream of saying, how performing can take you out of yourself and into a state of alignment with something bigger, more profound and very special.

Flow at Forge, new episode of Why Art. By Spike Martin and Edward Breen (2026)

Which got me to thinking: What about an activity that on the face of it is more utilitarian in nature, crafting useful objects, forging tools and parts for machinery, using heat and pressure to draw out solid, usable and often beautiful things from unyielding metal.

I have been lucky to meet Spike from Bearded Pig Forge on a few occasions, but two of these were during workshops where he guided me in creating first a spoon and then an axe. During both, what struck me immediately was how mindful you needed to be when working in a forge.

One of the first things Spike said at the beginning of these workshops was:

‘Assume everything is hot.’

This is not some abstract instruction; it is for safety, forges can be dangerous places. The next thing was:

‘Look at what you’re hammering’.

Fairly simple, perhaps a little obvious, but something that’s easily forgotten.
So, the first two instructions are that we must maintain focus on what we’re doing, remembering not to touch objects with our bare skin, and to keep our eyes on the task. In other words: when the mind wanders, bring it back in line. Sounds a bit like meditation!

Why Blacksmithing?

The second thing that made me believe Spike should come on Why Art? to talk about his work was how calm he was in the face of four people who had never done this before, putting lumps of iron into a furnace that was hotter than you could imagine (whatever you’re thinking, then multiply by one hundred), then taking them out and hitting them as hard as we could with hammers.
At least one of these people finds it difficult to cut a slice of bread straight, never mind doing what we were about to do. But Spike was calm, collected and strangely easygoing about the whole thing. Safety was taken seriously, don’t get me wrong, but the ease with which he guided us around this and through making identifiable objects from our cack-handed hammer swinging was inspiring.

🔨

But mostly it’s how close to art this craft is. In the episode, Spike will argue against this but he’s not here now, so I have free reign.

My argument then and now is that there are too many elements aligned with creative art in blacksmithing to discount it: The single-minded focus, the flow state that ensues, the vision and practice required to make something truly beautiful, the satisfaction of a job well done. All of these could be said of writing, singing, painting, sculpting and we agree that these are artistic endeavours. Why not blacksmithing?

Have a listen to the episode and see if you agree.

Until next time, keep creating, and keep asking questions.